On Monday morning a few friends emailed me to see if I had heard about Ann Curry’s tweet about doing simple daily acts of kindness in honor of the victims of the Sandy Hook elementary school in CT. Her original tweet even included the word mitzvah, “Imagine if all of us committed to 20 mitzvahs/acts of kindness to honor each child lost in Newtown. I’m in. If you are RT #20Acts.”
I was thrilled to see how quickly people had gotten into action around the globe to engage in kindnesses and mitzvahs. The benefits to proactively doing good to help combat the feeling like the world is all bad or evil is exactly what I discovered while grieving my father. We can be proactive in our lives and when we are there is a ripple effect, a new energy that is created, a positive feeling that we generate.
I am so happy that Ann Curry’s suggestion took off. I expect that perhaps after people have consciously performed 26 acts – which I am assuming will get them through the New Year and perhaps a week or so into January – they will have begun a new habit of looking for opportunities to engage in kindness. Studies show that it takes an average of about 66 days to learn a new habit. So these 26 acts will be a great start. As we enter a new year, it is the perfect time to commit to a new year’s resolution to continue seeking opportunities to perform simple acts of kindness or mitzvahs for the entire year.
I hope this movement continues to grow and build. A week after the shootings in Oregon and Connecticut, there are literally 1,000’s of people acting on behalf of those lost. 1000’s consciously engaging in goodness, kindness and reigniting a light into this dark hour.
Thank you Ann Curry for your idea and inspiration.
1,000 Mitzvahs 